


One Day

by DearGoogleIPromiseIAmAWriter (Reveles)



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Major Character Injury, POV Original Character, POV Outsider, Paralysis, Permanent Injury, X-Men: First Class (2011)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:08:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27651110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reveles/pseuds/DearGoogleIPromiseIAmAWriter
Summary: "Leah was about to walk out when the name on the patient's file caught her eye. Charles Xavier. The name sparked something in her mind, and it was a moment before she realised where she had seen it before. It was the writer of the paper that had assured her she wasn't crazy, that there were people in the world like her."
Kudos: 7





	One Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic for the X-Men universe, I hope you'll like it!

It was sunny, a beautiful warm day in the hospital gardens that Leah could see from the window of the room. Normally, she would yearn to be outside in that sunlight, away from the misery of the ward, the pain of the thoughts of the people surrounding her. Some days, she wished she had chosen a different career, one where people's thoughts were happier, where it was easier to let them flow out of her mind.

Leah had been able to hear the thoughts of others since she was ten, a passive observer to the inner workings of their minds. It would be years later that she would learn in a genetic research paper that she was not crazy, that the voices were real, that she was a mutant.

Sometimes, she thought that the pain was the reason she had chosen to become a nurse, to help ease some of the suffering that she could see in people's minds. Others, she thought that perhaps she truly was crazy. The job took a mental toll on anyone, but the pain of patient's and their loved ones was only more intense for her.

She looked sadly at the young man lying in the pristine white bed as she adjusted the drip that was delivering morphine directly into his bloodstream. He had come into the hospital a few days earlier unconscious and bloody, being carried by distraught friends who had come back to visit him every day since, waiting for him to wake up. Leah remembered the mess of sand and blood that had covered the man before they hurriedly took him into surgery to do what they could. They had managed to save his life, but they could not save his legs, leaving him completely paralysed from the waist down, with almost no hope for recovery. 

Leah was about to walk out when the name on the patient's file caught her eye. Charles Xavier. The name sparked something in her mind, and it was a moment before she realised where she had seen it before. It was the writer of the paper that had assured her she wasn't crazy, that there were people in the world like her. 

Before she even had a chance to comprehend this fully, she saw a small movement from the bed. Filing her realisation away for later, she watched as Charles's eyes flickered open, his thoughts hazy and jumbled, not yet comprehending the enormity of what had happened to him.

After a moment, his focus turned to Leah before gliding over her and settling on the empty wheelchair waiting in the corner of the room.

"What happened?" he asked groggily

"I'll go fetch a doctor to check you over, you were out for a few days," Leah replied, she felt bad for brushing off his question but it wasn't as if she could answer it. Besides, she figured he would prefer to have a doctor deliver the news of his paralysis.

"Tell me what happened first," Charles insisted and Leah could see his eyes settle on his legs. At the same time she could feel his panic spike, thoughts whirling around inside his head too fast for her to glimpse, as he tried to move his legs but found them unresponsive. Before Leah could try to comfort him enough that she could go and get a doctor, she felt a sharp pain in her mind, Charles's thoughts colliding painfully with hers.

Leah could see the sand of beach, feel a bullet piercing her back, hear Charles's fear as he repeated one sentence over and over before finally loosing consciousness. _'I can't feel my legs'_.

The assault on her mind was over as soon as it began and Leah put her hand down from where it had been braced against her temple. She looked up to see Charles with the most horrified expression on his face.

"I- I am terribly sorry," he apologised and Leah could feel him building mental barriers inside of his mind, barricading her from his thoughts.

"You're like me," Leah breathed, her voice quite in her wonder

Charles seemed to be caught off guard by her statement, mental barricades momentarily forgotten. "I suppose I am," he replied

Leah didn't know why she said it, or why she decided that the conversation was over, but before she knew it she threw the words over her shoulder as she walked out of the room, "I'm going to get the doctor now,"

As she walked down the hall, she could hear his faint voice in the back of her mind, not intended for her to hear, but due to his weak state she heard it anyway. _'Please, don't leave me'_

Swallowing away the emotions at hearing his plea, she found the doctor and informed him that Charles was awake. Soon, she and the doctor were heading back down the hall and then she was listening as the doctor informed Charles of his diagnosis.

"It, it's not... permanent. Is it?" Charles asked, and Leah could feel the small amount of hope radiating off him, a bright spot in the darkness of his mind.

"I'm incredibly sorry, but it is likely to be permanent. The nerve is completely severed," the doctor replied

On the outside, Charles appeared to be taking the news with grace, his only response being a quiet, "Oh, well that is unfortunate," Internally though, Leah saw his hope shatter and his mind begin to whirl dizzyingly once again, tearing down the barriers he had so carefully built before. Leah bit back a grimace as she heard a heart wrenching scream of agony, coupled with despair, radiating out of him.

The doctor began to explain his rehabilitation, but Leah knew that he was barely listening. She could hear the myriad of emotion and thoughts that were going through his head. Even when the doctor left and she was called to another patient, she could hear his pain, the internal despairing sobs that were so at odds from his external calm demeanour.

Leah made a point of checking on him whenever she could, there had been no more outbursts of memories, but she could still hear when everything became too much for him and he would cry, rarely shedding a physical tear.

It would be many months after he was discharged before she heard from him again, though when she did, and when she arrived to teach at his newly opened school for mutant children, she was sad to see that his mental walls were stronger than ever, functioning as a one way window, allowing him to look out, but for no one to be able to look in. The blockades effectively stopping her from seeing the pain he was in, not only from his disability, but from being left by those he called friends when he needed them the most.

One day, she hoped, one day he will be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Like I said at the start, this is my first X-Men fic, but not my first fic on AO3 (I have another pseud where I post Shadowhunters stuff). I'm hoping to use this pseud more and to write some more of these so I would love to hear any feedback you have on how to improve my writing! It would mean a lot to me if you could leave a comment or a kudos, but don't feel like you have to! I hope the rest of your day/night is awesome!  
> ~DearGoogleIPromiseIAmAWriter  
> (wow, that name is a lot longer than my other pseud :D)


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